Personal Finance
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Latest in Personal Finance
A Casely power-bank recall follows a reported death, and owners can get a free replacement
Casely will send a free replacement power bank to owners of about 429,200 recalled MagSafe wireless chargers, an offer that has stayed open since mid-April...
Disputing a medical bill before it goes to collections can keep it off a credit report entirely
A medical bill does not have to reach a collection agency to threaten a credit score, but it also does not have to end up...
Walmart re-recalled 165,000 tip-over dressers and is offering full refunds
Walmart is offering full refunds on another 165,250 Mainstays nine-drawer fabric dressers after regulators discovered that dressers from an earlier recall of the same product...
The three credit bureaus still keep medical collections under $500 off reports, a voluntary change no court undid
A federal judge in the Eastern District of Texas erased the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s rule banning medical debt from credit reports on July 11,...
Medical debt is back on credit reports after a court voided the federal ban, though 15 states still restrict it
Medical collections are showing up on credit reports again across most of the country, more than a year after a federal judge in Texas erased...
Pulling a free credit report from all three bureaus each year catches errors that quietly raise borrowing costs
Federal law gives every consumer the right to one free credit report a year from each of the three nationwide bureaus — Equifax, Experian and...
Inflation-adjusted I bonds shield savings from rising prices, with a one-year lockup
A Series I savings bond pays interest in two parts, and the design is what makes it a hedge against inflation rather than a bet...
Paying only the minimum on a card near 21% interest can nearly double what a purchase costs
With the average credit-card rate now sitting close to 21%, the small “minimum payment” line at the bottom of a statement has quietly become one...
Naming a minor directly as a life-insurance beneficiary can freeze the payout in court
A grandparent who names a young grandchild as the beneficiary on a life-insurance policy usually pictures the money arriving quickly to help raise the child....
An old debt can pass its statute of limitations, but one payment can restart the clock
An old debt does not disappear because it is old, but its legal teeth can. Every state sets a statute of limitations — a window...
Money-market funds are paying near 4%, often beating a big bank’s savings account
Cash sitting in a large bank’s ordinary savings account has been earning almost nothing, often a fraction of a percent, while short-term interest rates have...
U.S. savings bonds stop earning interest after 30 years, so cash the old ones
A U.S. savings bond stops earning interest exactly 30 years after it was issued, which means an old bond tucked in a drawer or a...
A no-penalty CD lets you lock a rate near 4% and still pull the money if you need it
A no-penalty certificate of deposit offers a rare combination for cautious savers: the ability to lock in a fixed interest rate while keeping the option...
Brookstone-branded tabletop fire pits are recalled, and owners can get a full refund
Owners of a Brookstone-branded tabletop fire pit can get a full refund after federal regulators announced a recall of about 48,700 units. Southern Telecom, the...
A partnership long-term-care policy lets you keep extra assets and still qualify for Medicaid
A special class of long-term-care insurance, sold under state Long-Term Care Partnership programs, carries a benefit ordinary policies do not: for every dollar the policy...
High-yield savings accounts still pay near 4% while big banks pay almost nothing
Two savers can hold identical balances in identical products and earn wildly different amounts, and the only thing separating them is which bank holds the...
FDIC insurance covers $250,000 per depositor, and beneficiaries can multiply it
The $250,000 figure attached to FDIC insurance sounds like a flat ceiling, and many savers treat it that way, quietly assuming a household with more...
Home-insurance non-renewals are climbing as insurers retreat from high-risk states
The home-insurance squeeze has a second edge that never shows up on a premium quote. Beyond the rising cost of a policy, a growing number...
State unclaimed-property programs are holding billions in forgotten money for the taking
Across the country, state treasurers sit on billions of dollars in unclaimed property that once belonged to ordinary people who simply lost track of it....
Home insurance now averages about $3,057 a year and rivals the mortgage for many owners
The cost of protecting a home has quietly become one of the fastest-rising line items in a retiree’s budget. The average U.S. homeowners policy is...